


If You Can Dodge a Wrench, You Can Dodge a Ball

by SunnyMansfield



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, M/M, it's an au but they're all still pretty magical, the gangsey meets after college
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 05:57:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10075304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunnyMansfield/pseuds/SunnyMansfield
Summary: The post-college AU where the Gangsey joins a dodge ball team.





	

This was not the first time Adam had seen the boy. He’d seen him leaving the building in the early morning looking bright eyed and bushy tailed. Waiting in the lobby, all charming smiles and warmth while talking on the phone. Wearing clothing so simple and elegant they could only cost a fortune, striding as if the earth rose to meet his every step, confidence in his every gesture.

But this was the first time Adam had seen him in sweatpants with his hair rumpled, agonizing over a washing machine in the laundry room while surrounded by baskets of dripping clothes on a Saturday night.

Adam was carrying a small basket for his carefully sorted weekly load of laundry. Each load cost $3 total to wash and dry, but sometimes when he planned things well, he could get away with a wash-only load for half that price and then hang dry everything on a stand in his bathroom. Technically he could afford the cost now without going broke, but old habits die hard, and as a law student he had to budget everything. Money, time, sleep. He didn’t even pretend to fit a social life into it, he just got in and out and did what he had to do.

That was his plan for tonight. Put a load in the wash, run back to his apartment to make a quick dinner, switch the laundry to the dryer, go back to start notes on his case study for the week, and then hopefully he would be done in time to get his laundry, fold and put it away, and then dig into his assigned reading until he had to go to bed in order to get up for his shift tomorrow. Nowhere in that schedule did he budget time to help the poor, little rich boy figure out how a basic function of being an adult. And yet.

“Do you need some help?” asked Adam.

The boy spun to look at him, then grinned sheepishly. “Um, if you how to get this machine to stop drowning my clothes, yeah, I wouldn’t mind some help. I don’t think maintenance will be in again until Monday.”

Adam gave a small smile and put his basket down by another machine to get a closer look. The other boy reached out his hand.

“It’s Parrish, right? Sorry if that’s weird, I saw you get your mail once and read the name on the box.”

“Yeah, I’m Adam. Richard Gansey?” Adam wasn’t going to pretend he hadn’t done the same thing.

“Just Gansey,” he said with relief, as they shook hands. It was brief, but he had a firm grasp and maintained eye contact like it was very important to impress Adam, and not just because needed help with his soggy situation.

Adam turned back to the machine in question. There seemed to be several bright polos sitting in a puddle inside. A light was flashing and a faint knocking sound was coming from it. He peered at the control board, took a look around to make sure it wasn’t leaking onto the ground, then he leaned over the top to check behind it. He saw a row of surge protectors behind the washers, one of them conspicuously unlit. Hoisting himself a little onto the machine, he reached over to toggle the switch till the light came on, grateful for his lanky frame making the task easier. The knocking sound stopped, and when he came back down, the light on the machine had returned to a steady shine. Adam tapped on the machine knob, indicating that the cycle never finished. “If you put your stuff back in and set it to the spin cycle, it should drain them properly. The wiring down here is kind of old and twitchy, and some of the connections just shut off.”

Gansey looked at him like he just performed a miracle. “I’ve been down here for 20 minutes trying to wring my clothes dry, and all I had to do was turn it off and on again? Of course,” he sighed, shaking his head and looking down at his dripping piles. “How did you even know that?”

“I used to work as a mechanic. Usually cars, but sometimes it helps with other things. You know what to look for.” Adam turned back to his own laundry. He wasn’t lying, but he didn’t feel the need to tell Gansey he’d also overheard a guy from building maintenance talking about this particular laundry room situation last week.

“Hey," said Gansey, "let me pay you back for helping me out! My roommate and I ordered pizza, and you’re welcome to come join us.”

“Um…”

“Come on, it’ll be fun! I insist. We’ll have plenty to share. We were just going to stay in and play video games, and you’re the first person in this building I’ve met who hasn’t either ignored me or tried to sell me something.”

“Well, I usually try to save my pitch for the actual elevator.” 

Gansey smiled, and Adam couldn’t help but return it. He supposed the case study could wait until tomorrow. They finished loading their respective machines, and after carefully counting out his quarters, Adam followed Gansey out of the laundry room and down the hall to the stairs. Gansey looked over his shoulder with a solemn look as he led the way. “I’m sure your pitch is great, but I tend to find the stairs are faster.”

The apartment building was a bit of an oddity. A nondescript brick front, with insides that were utilitarian and whimsical by turns. The apartments themselves ranged from small studios (where Adam lived on the ground floor) to sizable 3 bedrooms (where Gansey lived on the top level). There was no discernible pattern to the layout.

“Hey, have you met my roommate, Ronan?”

Adam shook his head. He couldn’t think of anyone else he’d seen who looked like they belonged with Gansey.

If Gansey paused as they reached his hallway, he didn’t give Adam a chance to ask about it, though the next words out of his mouth didn’t really offer any clearer picture. “Lynch can be a bit much at first, but his bark is worse than his bite.”

With that, they were at the door, and Gansey turned the knob. As they entered the apartment, a voice called out from the depths, “Hey Dick! What the hell were you doing down there? Is the pizza here yet?”

Gansey grimaced ever so slightly and called back, “Not yet! Now get out here, Lynch, we’ve got company.”

“Is it that delivery girl you’re so obsessed with? Because I swear to God – “ A tall figure burst through a doorway and stopped short. There was brief silence, and then Adam could feel the glower directed at him from Gansey’s roommate. “Really?” he sneered.

“Honestly, Lynch, be nice. Adam just saved me from a broken washing machine. I invited him up for pizza and games, so you’re going to have to deal.”

Adam watched as Gansey’s roommate rolled his eyes, then swiftly turned out of the hall.

“He doesn’t take well to new people, so just give him some time. It’s not personal. But come on, I’ll show you around.”

Adam followed Gansey into the apartment, politely listening to the tour as his mind buzzed. It was true, what he’d said earlier. He didn’t know Ronan Lynch, not personally. But if he’d seen the dangerously handsome man stalking around the building and had several vivid fantasies about being caught in a dark corner with him, well no one needed to know about that.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm jumping the gun a bit and posting this opening as a means to motivate myself to finish. It's a bit of a slow start, but I wanted to take the time to set it up. I will be adding more characters and tags as I go along, though, so keep an eye on that!
> 
> I'm not sure exactly what my posting schedule will be like yet, but I'm hoping to keep to a faster pace. And of course, I appreciate feedback!


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